New Book Alert: Enemy by Kimberly Amato; Yet Another Dark, Disturbing, and All Too Real Dystopian Science Fiction

 

New Book Alert: Enemy by Kimberly Amato; Yet Another Dark, Disturbing, and All Too Real Dystopian Science Fiction 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers (BIG HEAVY SPOILERS IMPLIED!!!) Here we go again.

Here we have yet another dystopian science fiction novel that might as well be (to borrow the old Law and Order ad catchphrase) "ripped from the headlines." 

I can't imagine why, but that has become quite a popular genre of late. (End sarcasm). I mean it's not like we are in an environmental catastrophe, been through a worldwide pandemic, have businesses who would rather work with a small workforce than kick in a few bucks so their employees can survive, student loan and housing crisis, inflation and no living wage to counter it, supply chain issues, international crisis with China, and had a former President with tyrannical ambitions encourage his own followers to attack the Capitol building or anything.

(Really, end sarcasm.)

Most people read and write for escapism. This genre is like the Universe saying "Not today, Bookworm! You're going to read it, write it, think about it, and you're going to like it!" 

Not only that but is it just me or do these dystopians get darker and darker? Just when you think you have read the final one, the bleakest one yet that squashes any hope for humanity, along comes another one which tops that. What, do these authors challenge each other to see who can be the most depressing?

Case in point, Kimberly Amato's Enemy which seems to have taken its inspiration from the Jim Henson series, Dinosaurs' final episode "Changing Nature" which seemed to have as its motto "If you want to get viewers talking and watching, then leave them dying and the audience crying."

I thought that Ark of the Apocalypse finally caused me to hit the bottom. Enemy reminded me that there is no bottom, just the big gaping abyss that Nietzsche spoke about. 

Ark of the Apocalypse had a plan of traveling to other worlds. The plan showed that while the characters who conceived it were unlikeable, at least something was salvageable. 

With Enemy, there is no plan. There is no space travel. There is just survival and a slow countdown to extinction. 

There are various subplots in this book which takes place in the near future. The United States is taken over because of an alliance between a former American and Russian President. Obviously, it's part futuristic story and as of right now part alternate universe, because it practically stems from many of the fears over what would happen if a certain someone had won a second term. Though he's barely referred to by name, it's clear that many of the tyrannical 

legislation and requirements on the dystopian government's agenda are based on policies by a certain previous Presidential administration and its cult of followers.

Anyway in Enemy, the President of the United States, James Laskin is a puppet ruler under the true master,  King Valkov, "the one true ruler" of the world. Women, LGBT, and minorities are deprived of their rights. The dying environment has caused many to live underground. Prison employees are permitted to use brainwashing and torture and many are imprisoned for so-called "heinous" crimes like criticizing the government, being disabled, or emigrating into the country. There is no illegal immigration, because immigration is forbidden or rather I should say, that everyone who enters the country is considered an illegal immigrant. Of course the news is nothing more than propaganda and children are educated to fit the world government's definition of "God and Country."

Despite this tight stranglehold on truth and freedom, there are small cells of resistors that communicate with each other virally. 

Most of the protagonists of this story are part of one such cell. One of those members is Agent Ellie Goldman, a former Multinational Security Council Operative, who is now one of the heads of the Resistance. Besides helping people enter the country, she has one other goal in mind: to kill President Laskin.

However, there is dissension within the ranks as many male former military operatives turned rebels don't like being ordered about by a woman. 

Osaka, a Rebel, is undercover working for Laskin but she can't disguise her growing affection for the President's young son, Maxim. Osaka's lover and fellow rebel, Anton, is determined to rescue his captive sister, Nadja.

Riker's Island, a New York prison, is now a central hub or torture and brainwashing. It's run by the militant Col. Macalov and much of the nastiest work is headed by the sadistic Mr. Flannery, who would love to replace Macalov. Also, working at Riker's Island is low level Officer Tim Flynt who takes care of his mentally ill mother and younger brother, Sam, who may be interested in joining the rebels.

Meanwhile, President Laskin has a long list of enemies that he wouldn't mind doing away with and using the Resistance to do so.

The main emotion that runs throughout this book is a certain world weariness, perhaps from the Reader being bombarded with similar scenarios in fiction and probable ones in real life. The world weariness also exists within the framework of the book itself and within the characters. 

The rebels overall plans are to kill Laskin and infiltrate and destroy Riker's Island. They plan this while other cells around the world are destroyed and other rebels are killed, arrested, or converted. Because this dictatorship is worldwide, the odds of Ellie's cell doing any permanent damage is unlikely. There are other Rikers and many people to replace Laskin. The thing is they know it too. Their actions such as they are, are mere pinpricks towards the dictatorship. Ellie can only hope that what they do will inspire others to act.

These are people who have lived their whole lives under this regime and have either grown accustomed or apathetic to it. The ones that fight, have replaced ideals with survival. They have no plans on what to replace the dictatorship with, just live with it, fight against it, and be alive long enough to see it end.

After all with as much damage that has been done to the world, there may not be anything salvageable left to recover.

While weariness is the main emotion, there are some genuine heartfelt moments, particularly by characters who cling to friends and family members because that's all they have. Ellie definitely has tunnel vision in her desire to kill Laskin and is very militant and authoritarian towards her fellow rebels. However, she is grieving over the death of her wife, a woman who was the love of her life. She also connects with an immigrant family consisting of a single mother and her young children. 

Speaking of children, Osaka's bond with Maxim is moving as she sees not an enemy but a small child who is not at fault for what his father does. She becomes more of a parental figure 

to him than his actual parents.

There are some heartbreaking passages which reveal the real price of the war between the oppressors and the oppressed. When Anton learns of his sister's fate, his grief is real and believable showing that there is great loss on all sides. It's like a cry of pain that travels from the words to the Reader's souls.

Tim is an eyewitness to the torture of a rebel and is left traumatized by the experience especially by her calm acquiescence to death. While he remains working at Riker's for some time afterwards, it's clear this experience changed him and is part of why he is reluctant to discover where Sam's allegiances lay. He doesn't want his kid brother to go through that experience of torture with Tim having to helplessly watch and do nothing. Suddenly, these faceless rebels have names and identities to Tim and one of those is the person that he loves the most.

That care for character is also given to many of the antagonistic characters. Some like Flannery delight in cruelty while other like Valkov are far off and remote from the overall action, others are dissected more closely. Laskin is charming, crafty and is distant but concerned for his family. Macalov shows compassion in some of the strangest times such as when he refuses to torture a small child (True, that the child benefits him in his overall plans is a factor, but the fact that he stopped it at all is particularly notable.) They are portrayed as men who might have once been reasonable even idealistic, but like everyone else, made the choice to survive. They just chose to go with the regime rather than fight against it.

 Instead of a straight line between the Evil Empire vs. The Good Rebels, the line is faint and more jagged. Everybody exists in a shade of gray, suggesting there are no direct enemies because the real enemy is inside.

Which leads us to the ending. Because of the previous weariness and emotions of the characters, there is no thought that this book will end in victory for either side. There is some good tension as plans are made and sides attack and counterattack. However, any type of happy victory would ring hollow because of the somber tone that preceded it. Pessimism reigns throughout this book and is definitely present in the final pages.

Because of humanity's self destructive nature, no one comes out a winner. It gets worse in the final pages as at the very end, no one learns anything. This countdown to violence and destruction may continue and once again, we will head for extinction.

It's as though Enemy, literally is the final word on humanity's probable chances for existence. Let's listen to it

But for now, let it be the final word on the dystopian science fiction genre.